


Moonlight

by RosieDae



Series: Chicken Soup for the Soul(mate). [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cute, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 07:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7306162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosieDae/pseuds/RosieDae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Bucky plays with Darcy's hair and one time she says his Words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> Two one shots, one night. I'm on a roll. I literally wrote this in maybe 90 minutes. I just had to get it out of my system before I forgot about any of the details my mind was running with.

The first time Bucky sees Darcy she’s sniffling on the couch, watching an animated film about an old guy with balloons and a little kid in a Boy Scout’s uniform. He can hear her crying softly to herself, muttering something about a guy from HR being an asshole. He only wants a cup of milk before heading to bed, but he can’t help but feel a pang in his heart every time she hiccups.

By the third hiccup his heart hurts for her and he’s no longer thinking about the cup of milk. Bucky tentatively walks over to to the large sectional she’s laying on and see’s her wrapped in a soft blanket that has all the Avengers (including him) on it. Her face is tear-stained, her eyes are puffy, and she’s surrounded by tissues, but Bucky thinks she’s the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

She doesn’t say anything when he sits down next to her. They two continue watching the movie, but little by little Darcy inches closer and closer. Halfway through the movie, Darcy’s head is in Bucky’s lap and he’s absentmindedly playing softly with her thick, chocolate curls. He can’t help but notice how soft her hair is. It smells of lavender and Bucky has never felt this calm before. Not in a very long time.

By the time the movie is over, she’s asleep. He doesn’t have the heart to move her. After a while, Bucky feels himself dozing off too.

* * *

The second time Bucky plays with Darcy’s hair is the night Jane and Thor leave for Asgard. They would be back in a month, but Bucky knew that Darcy and Jane were inseparable, often hearing them bicker from labs when Tony was tinkering with his arm.

She’s wrapped up in a blanket again, watching a thankfully non-animated movie about a travel bookstore owner falling in love with movie star. When he enters her line of sight, Darcy gives him pleading eyes and soon enough he’s playing with her hair again.

He can’t say no to her. With her chocolate hair, sapphire eyes, red lips, and porcelain skin, she reminds him of Snow White except exponentially more beautiful and kind.

This time Bucky falls asleep before she does. When he wakes up, Bucky realizes that sometime throughout the night he became horizontal, and Darcy is half on top of him. He drifts off to sleep again, not wanting to wake her up. The second time he wakes up, she’s not there, but has left a thank you note.

Bucky had his suspicions before, but now he knows. That handwriting, that messy, cursive, loopy, handwriting, belongs to his soulmate. Belongs to Darcy. Darcy is his soulmate. He doesn’t know how to process the information, and chooses to go for a run to clear his head.

The run doesn’t help, but he’s not upset at all at this revelation.

* * *

“Today is the anniversary of her father’s death.” Natasha explains.

He and Natasha were sparring. They twisted, turned, flipped, kicked, and punched each other like the world was going to end. Of course there’s no full strength behind any of the attacks, but he reckons it’s good to keep up on form. Natasha’s on his back, trying to choke him from behind. He flips her over and she lands on the ground. She’s up in an instant.

“Who?” Bucky asks. He cussed quietly when Natasha took him out at his ankles.

“Darcy. Her dad died three years ago. She’s still really depressed about it. I don’t blame her, with her dad being her only family.”

_Damn._

Natasha uses the split second that Bucky takes to process the new information to choke him with her thighs. He flips over on the ground and the wind is knocked out of him for a few seconds.

“That was low, Natasha.” Bucky accuses, but he doesn’t really mean it.

“Hey, I like to play off other’s weaknesses. Enemies will do the same thing.” She shrugs, and holds out a hand to help him off the floor.

“So you consider Darcy to be a weakness of mine?” Bucky asks nonchalantly.

Natasha gives him a knowing look and then gestures to his stomach. Where his Words are.

“Don’t think I don’t know what your words are and what you’ve been up to with Darcy lately.” Natasha retorts, and Bucky knows she’s got him there.

He wipes off the sweat dripping from his forehead with a towel and then puts his hand on his hip. He furrows his eyebrows a little bit and Natasha knows the gears in his head are turning.

“You think I should go find her?” He asks.

“Duh. Go take a shower and show up with some brownies. She’ll love you forever.” Natasha pushes Bucky to the door. “And before you say anything, I know she’s already destined to love you forever. Also I made some brownies for you to give to her and they’re sitting on your counter.”

Like Natasha promises, the brownies are on his countertop. Bucky wonders how she sneaks into the apartment without him knowing about it, but he has a feeling it’s actually Clint sneaking around in the air vents. He makes a mental note to screw the vents extra tight so Clint can’t snoop around his apartment.

He takes a quick shower so he doesn’t smell when he goes to find her. He doesn’t even bother putting on real clothes, just putting on a pair of sweatpants and plain white tee.

“Friday, do you know where Darcy is?” He asks, looking up at the ceiling. He knows he doesn’t have to look up at the ceiling, but he just does. Something about a omniscient voice speaking to him from seemingly nowhere makes him feel like he’s talking to God.

“She’s currently in her apartment, Mr. Barnes.”

“She’s on the same floor Natasha, right?” He questions.

“Correct, sir.”

With that, Bucky grabs the brownies and he’s on his way. When he gets to her door, his heart starts pounding and his one flesh hand gets sweaty.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they’re soulmates, or maybe it has to do with the fact that Bucky hasn’t talked to a girl like that in years, but he’s apprehensive. It takes him a few tries to knock on her door, and when he does, it’s only a few seconds before she opens the door.

Darcy’s all wrapped up in the blanket from the two previous times he’s played with her hair. Her eyes are puffy, red, and tired, probably from a mixture of crying, napping, and watching TV in the dark. He offers up the brownies and she steps back from the door, an invitation to let him in.

Her apartment is exactly like he imagined, filled with bright colors and mismatched (but tasteful) furniture. It’s a stark contrast to the crying girl in front of him.

She rests her head in his lap again, nibbling at brownie. He runs his long fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp and he hears Darcy sigh contently. They fall asleep to the sound of Kim Kardashian complaining about her lost earrings in the background.

* * *

 

The next time he plays with Darcy’s hair she’s not actually sad. Instead, she’s caught an awful, nasty, cold and is running a slight fever.

He’s walking to the communal kitchen when he hears a few voices bickering.

“I’m not going near her. I’m only a mere mortal and I’m not getting sick.” Tony says, putting his hands up in the ‘I’m innocent and unarmed’ sort of way.

Natasha rolls her eyes. “You’re such a baby, Stark. Grow up. I’ll make sure she gets some soup in her system.”

“I’ll do it.” Bucky offers. “I know a mean chicken soup recipe, and I’m probably more immune to whatever Darcy has than you are.”

“You sure?” Natasha asks.

“One hundred percent. How do you think Steve ever survived winter? It was totally because of Momma Barnes’ magical chicken soup recipe.” Bucky states.

“Only if you’re sure.” Natasha concedes, and Bucky knows she’s pulling his leg a little, but also putting on a bit of a show so Tony wouldn’t know the situation with him and Darcy being soulmates.

Bucky gets to cooking right after that, making the soup recipe that he knows has made a million times before. He has vague memories of Steve, before the serum, coughing up half a lung and then some. Soup was the only thing he could hold down. The memories are fuzzy and feel like another life, but he’s glad they’re there so he can help Darcy.

He doesn’t mean to intrude into a lady’s home, but he knows that she’s sick and apparently Darcy let Friday know that the Avengers could let themselves into her apartment for the night if they so wished to check in on her.

She’s on the couch and not in bed like he hopes she is when he enters her apartment. The TV volume is down very low and Bucky guesses she has a mean headache. Darcy peers over and notices him, giving a soft little wave from the couch.

He rummages through her cabinets for a minute to find a bowl and spoon to put a serving of soup in. He hands the steaming meal to her and hears her hum in delight after having a spoonful. When she finishes the bowl, he gets to playing with her hair again. This time, he tentatively uses his metal hand to play with her hair. He’s afraid that her hair will get caught in the metal plates, but it never does.

* * *

The fifth time Bucky plays with Darcy’s hair she’s neither sad nor sick. It’s movie night with all the Avengers and they’re watching the new Star Wars movie.

He doesn’t know who any of the characters are or what’s happening, but the special effects are unlike anything he’s ever seen and he’s entranced the whole movie. Darcy’s head is in his lap again, and he’s playing with the soft strands of her hair.

“We should start calling Bucky ‘Luke Skywalker’.” Tony suggests after the movie is over.

“No, I feel like he’s more of an Anakin.” Natasha counters. “He’s got long hair, is terribly broody, and is prone to making long monologues about sand.”

“Hey!” Bucky cries. “It gets stuck in my metal plates and then I can’t use my arm until Tony fixes it!”

Natasha stares off into an invisible camera, a reference which Bucky knows is from The Office. He knows then she’s trying make a point of how ridiculous he sounds, and rolls his eyes instead of continuing the argument. Had it been any other night he might have continued, but Darcy was dozing off in his lap and he didn’t want to startle her.

Bucky is grateful when Tony doesn’t say anything or even make any jokes about him playing with Darcy’s hair.

He carries Darcy back to her apartment and places her gently in bed. Carefully he places a blanket on top of her and kisses her forehead. He knows it’s only a matter of time before she says his words.

The excitement, happiness, and even _love_ he feels is so much more intense than Christmas morning with his family when he was twelve. He knows she’ll say the words when she’s ready.

Deep down, Bucky has a feeling she knows it’s him, too. He hopes that she's not disappointed and that's why she's not saying anything. 

* * *

The day after the movie night, Bucky gets called off too a mission. He doesn’t want to go. The entire week, the only person he thinks of is Darcy.

When he gets back the first thing he wants to do is go see Darcy. However, he’s ridiculously smelly and doesn’t think she would approve of an oil-stained super soldier playing with her hair and ruining her furniture. So the first thing he actually does is take a shower. He’s in and out within five minutes.

Halfway to Darcy’s apartment he realizes he only has one sock on, but he doesn’t care.

As per usual, she’s wrapped in a blanket. She’s typing away at something on her computer when she notices that Bucky’s entered the room. She smiles brightly and Bucky has never felt so glad to be home.

Neither of them say anything when Bucky sits down on the couch next to her and wraps her in a warm embrace. He goes to stroke her hair when she _finally_ opens her mouth to speak.

“ _Wait! You shouldn’t play with my hair. I haven’t washed it in a week.”_ She exclaims, feeling slightly embarrassed at her admittance.

“ _Metal arm, remember? I can’t feel the grease.”_ He wiggles the fingers on his left arm and her whole face lights up.

“I knew it was you!” Darcy exclaims.

“I mean the metal arm bit was kind of a giveaway, but I appreciate your detective skills.” He smirks, and she playfully slaps his arm.

That night, the two of them are neither sad, nor tired, or sick, and they fall asleep content with the world, knowing that they had found their soulmate.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? Cute? I hope so... What do you guys want next - Fluffy Steve/Darcy or Angsty Sam/Darcy? Let me know in the comments below! Please leave some kudos too (: Thank you for reading!


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